


Hugo and the Missing Key

by picklesandsweetpea



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Miller/Tysen/Shear & Federle
Genre: 1921, Canon Compliant, Canon Het Relationship, Constable Hugo Jackson, Gen, Post-Canon, missing key
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7736251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picklesandsweetpea/pseuds/picklesandsweetpea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set 28 years after the events of the Tuck Everlasting musical, we meet Hugo again (as Constable now) and follow him solving another crime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hugo and the Missing Key

**Author's Note:**

> Wow. My first finished fic. And of course it's in a fandom that has about 60 fans and they're all on Tumblr. Give this a chance and please do let me know your thoughts. 
> 
> Thanks to Bast Ravenshadow (http://archiveofourown.org/users/BastRavenshadow) for the edit.

Spring 1921 Tree Gap, New Hampshire

"Hugo."

Hugo slowed his walk to match the older woman's pace and asked, "Yes, Mrs. Alters? How are you on this lovely day?" He'd been heading home to Winnie and their son, but a few minutes would not delay dinner greatly.

"Generally I am well. But I've lost my key again," she said, just a bit crossly.

Hugo reached down for her hand and tucked it comfortingly in the crook of his elbow, patting her hand as he did. It is a reminder that he is here for the people of his town. He may not have been Constable for long – his father's only been gone a couple of years, but this? This, he can handle.

As his father's deputy, Hugo had been handling the smaller things for years, a way of preparing both Hugo and the community for a time when Joe Jackson would no longer be with them. Mrs. Alters' lost key was a recurring issue and as such had been Hugo's problem for several years.

"That's all right, Mrs. Alters. We're sure to find it if we put our heads together." He didn't even sigh as he said it.

"Do you remember when you used it last? Perhaps the Brownies moved it on you," he said, trying to keep the grin off his face.

"Hugo, that's probably exactly what happened. I should stop putting milk out for them!" Mrs. Alters exclaimed, sounding genuinely annoyed. "As for when I saw it last…. Today is Friday and this past Tuesday would have been our eighth wedding anniversary. So I used it then to visit with William a bit."

As Hugo walked her from the Jail to the General Store, he could imagine Widow Alters using her key to open up the writing desk that had belonged to her husband William. Just a simple wooden box, small enough to fit on a lap, big enough to hold some paper, ink, a pen and a bit of sand, just in case. He could remember the first time she'd lost the key; she'd worked herself into such a tizzy before she finally came to Dad for help that she was near tears. Dad had sent Hugo, as the deputy, to help her sort out the problem. They'd searched and searched and eventually found the key under the couch in her front room. The whole episode was blamed on the cat and everyone had moved on.

Until losing the key became a regular thing. Hugo didn't know if she was forgetful or just lonely but periodically the widow would lose her key and Hugo would spend a couple hours searching the house with her.

The second time she had lost the key she was horrified that she'd lost the thing again. After a bit of searching, the key was found in a box where the widow kept her cooking utensils. They'd speculated she had gotten so caught up cleaning, she hadn't even noticed it was in her hand when she was putting things away.

By the third time she had lost the key, she had stopped being horrified about it and acted as if it were just one of those things that happened all of the time, like going to church on Sundays. But that time was  
when she'd "introduced" Hugo to William, her deceased husband. William had been a cousin from the next town over. Widow Alters had been Jenny Monroe then, and she'd loved William from afar as Hugo had loved his wife as she had grown up. Jenny watched for many years as William had grown into his feet and into the kind hearted man she knew she could love for the rest of her life.

"Meeting" William was an honor for Hugo – even his father the Constable hadn't been invited to see what was in William's writing box. William, you see, had gotten leery of being able to get out of "The Great War". He'd written Jenny a letter a few months before he died. 

_"Dearest, I find I cannot make an enemy of the men I am serving with, I cannot allow myself to fail them. There are so very many ways to die out here and they all seem absurdly possible. Or at least not impossible. Please keep these treasures safe. I do hope to come home and request their return. However, having seen the war or at least my part in it, I no longer believe I'll make it home to be yours again. The terribleness of trench warfare is not for the likes of your eyes or your imagination so I will spare you the details. I'm enclosing two things for you: my locket that has a bit of your hair and the key to my writing desk. There is nothing in there you would be surprised by – please do not treat the opening of the box with trepidation. I send you all of my heart, my love. Please take care of them both until I see you again, in this life or in the next. I love you so very much, your Will."_

The widow had shared this letter with Hugo to "introduce" him to her William. Then she'd shared the contents of the writing desk. The locket, an old pair of reading glasses, his will granting her everything but asking his brother to keep an eye on things and help out as needed, and finally a letter from Jenny to William where she agreed to marry him but only if he moved to Tree Gap.

"I didn't want to leave the only town I'd ever known," she had said. "Thankfully he loved me enough to leave his fathers' farm to live here. When his father passed, his brothers bought out his part of the farm and with the cash we opened the General store in Tree Gap. It's been successful enough I've never had to re-marry which is good as William still holds my heart."

Mentally shaking himself from the memory, Hugo asked, "May I come over tomorrow morning to search? It's almost dinner time and Winnie and little Joe will be waiting on me." It had been a few months since the widow had lost the key and he'd mentioned to Winnie over dinner a couple of weeks ago that he was due for a visit.

"That would suit me just fine. I apologize for keeping you from dinner and your family!" she exclaimed as they stopped at the front door of her shop.

"I'll only be a minute late," Hugo said kindly. "Please don't trouble yourself about it." He took her hand out from the crook in his arm and kissed it gently. "I'll see you in the morning and we'll find that pesky key."

She stepped up on the porch to her store. "I'll not feed the Brownies tonight. We'll see how they like it! Please give my regards to your family."

"I will; goodnight, Mrs. Alters."

\--------

"Good evening, Beauty," Hugo said as he came in the door. "I apologize for my tardiness. Widow Alters stopped me on my way home."

"Did she finally catch Robert Styles red-handed?" Winnie asked excitedly, looking up from stirring the pot on the stove.

"Sadly no. Though it's just as well. I don't know what I'm going to do with him when she does catch him and then drag him down to me. No, I'll give you one more guess, though."

Hugo had a small smile on his face, the one he had when he was trying not to smile so Winnie considered what might bring that about.

"The key!" she answered smartly. "Didn't you just say something two weeks ago about it being time?"

"I did! Good memory, dearest. Yes, she's lost her key again so I'm off to visit her in the morning." This time he could sigh with exasperation and did so.

"Well, at least you won't be bored," Winnie said, with just a touch of mirth in her voice. "Now go call little Joe and you two get cleaned up for dinner."

 

Next Morning @ Widow Alters' General Store

"Mrs. Alters? It's Constable Hugo," Hugo called as he rapped his knuckles on the door of the General Store a few minutes before it was scheduled to open.

"Good morning Hugo!"

Hugo stepped back off the porch and looked up at the second story window that Mrs. Alters was waving from.

"I'll be down in just a moment, if you don't mind waiting please?"

"Of course, Mrs. Alters." Hugo took a seat on one of the porch rocking chairs to enjoy the morning. He nodded "Hello" to several townsfolk about their business on the lovely morning.

At eight Hugo could hear the Grandfather clock from the sitting room at the back of the store begin to chime. Before the clock finished ringing, the lock on the door to the General Store unlocked and the door was swung open. Rising from the chair, Hugo caught the door swinging towards him and hooked its little hook to the eye on the wall of the store thereby keeping the door open and to preclude any flapping in a breeze.

"Good morning, Hugo," Mrs. Alters said. "Thank you for waiting." She held open the screen door so Hugo could enter the store.

"Good morning. It was not a problem. A moment's rest to enjoy this lovely day is not to be wasted and I do so like your rocking chairs," Hugo said as he walked into the store. "Is it safe to assume the key has not turned up in the night? That the Brownies didn't return it in penance?"

"Sadly, you are correct. The key has not turned up as yet," Mrs. Alters said, looking a bit frustrated. "Where shall we start?"

"Let's begin in the kitchen. We found it there once before," Hugo said, injecting a note of hopefulness into his voice. They went around the counter and entered the private rooms behind the store. This is where the Widow actually lived, her kitchen with dining table and a sitting room on the lower level and the bedrooms upstairs.

Almost as soon as they got there, the screen door to the store squeaked open and someone came in.

"Excuse me please, Hugo," Mrs. Alters said as she left the room.

Not being comfortable in the widows' home unescorted, Hugo went to the doorway to the store and leaned on it, waiting patiently for Mrs. Alters. The visitor, he saw, was the young man the Widow was certain was stealing from her, Robert Styles.

"Good morning, Mr. Styles." Hugo said as Robert rounded a corner of an aisle.

Mr. Styles jumped, clearly surprised to see the Constable at the General Store.

"Shouldn't you be in school this time of day?"

"Good morning, Constable Jackson. Yes, but Mother asked me to get some needles for her this morning before I went." Robert looked satisfyingly nervous for a young man thought to be stealing from the store every time he came in. "This is all, please, Mrs. Alters," he said placing the packet of needles on the counter.

"Very well. Best do so and get onto school then," Hugo said, doing his best to look gruff, knowing it wasn't really working. Every time he put on his "I'm serious" face, Winnie would burst out in laughter and then try really hard to control her giggles.

"Yes Sir! Thank you, Mrs. Alters," Robert said as he ducked quickly out the screen door.

Mrs. Alters turned to Hugo and said, "Thank you; maybe that will knock some fear into that boy. Now, where were we?" Back to the kitchen they went. They only managed a few minutes of searching before they heard the screen door squeak again.

"Please excuse me, Hugo." Mrs. Alters said as she headed to the store to help her next customer. This was the normal, if frustrating pace of looking for the key. Each time a customer came in, the search would stop and then start up again a few minutes later. This time while Mrs. Alters served Reverend Otis, Hugo decided to search the sitting room. It was the only room in the house he felt comfortable being unescorted.

First he tried to lift the lid of the writing box, just to make sure the widow had re-locked it after her Tuesday "visit" with William and the lid lifted right up. Looking inside, Hugo saw the key sitting on the letter from William. Hugo picked up the key, locked the box and went to lean on the doorway to the store again.

"Thank you, Mrs. Alters. Good morning, Constable," the reverend said as he turned and headed to the door.

"Good day Reverend," Hugo said as the screen door squeaked open again.

As the widow turned back to Hugo, Hugo held up the key. "Here it is, Mrs. Alters. I don't think it was the Brownies after all. Unless you have very strong ones."

"You found it! Thank you! Where was it and why couldn't the Brownies gave done it?" Mrs. Alters looked very relieved as Hugo placed the key into her outstretched hand.

"It was in the writing box. I lifted the lid just to make sure you had locked it after your visit this week and the lid lifted and the key was right there. I think that lid is too heavy for Brownies to lift, even with a couple of them." Hugo was pretty sure he managed not to smile. "How about you put it on a chain and wear it? That should reduce the possibilities of it getting lost."

"I did try that after the first time I lost it," Mrs. Alters said. "But it was uncomfortable and kept banging into things, so I stopped."

"What about putting it in your jewelry box?" Hugo suggested. "Putting it with other important things might make it easier if you always have a spot where it's supposed to be."

"Hugo, that's a wonderful idea. I'll go put it right there right now. Hopefully I won't lose it between here and there! Thank you again for coming to search. I'm sorry to be a bother."

"You're never a bother, Mrs. Alters. I'm happy to help and delighted it was a brief search." Hugo reached out for her hand. She placed her hand in his as he leaned to kiss it goodbye. "Have a lovely rest of the day." With that, Hugo left the store and made his way to the Constable's office to see what else needed his attention this day.


End file.
